Following a controversial and even embarrassing ending for the Big East Conference, the three officials that called yesterday’s St. John’s vs. Rutgers game have voluntarily withdrawn for the remaining of the 2011 Big East Championship. The announcement was made by Commissioner John Marinatto earlier today. With approximately 1.7 seconds remaining, and Rutgers down by two, the officials missed a traveling call followed by an out-of-bounds violation by the Red Storm’s Justin Brownlee. The missed calls by officials — Jim Burr, Tim Higgins and Carl Walton — may have caused Rutgers to lose the game.

St. John’s and Rutgers fought down to the final play today in the second round of the Big East Tournament, but the game did not end without controversy at Madison Square Garden.

Rutgers inbounded the basketball underneath their own hoop, threw the ball towards St. John’s three-point line, where St. Johns player Justin Brownlee came up with the ball with around 4.0 seconds on the clock. Upon seeing Coach Steve Lavin walk up the sideline, the forward ran out of bounds with the ball near the scorers table, stepped out of bounds at the 1.6 second mark, and chucked the ball into the stands.

The referees did not review the play and went straight into the locker room immediately following the play.

If the play was reviewed, there is little doubt that Brownlee would have received a technical foul–meaning Rutgers would have had two shots and the ball with 1.6 seconds left. No matter what, they would have had a chance at tying or taking the game into overtime.

These events will probably overshadow an entertaining back-and-forth affair, but it brings a broader question into play: Should these refs be allowed to ref the rest of the Big East Conference Tournament or not?

ESPN analyst Doug Gottlieb already said that he believese these referees should be suspended. What do you think?

We’ll admit it. We have a soft spot for St. John’s over at The College Wire. Mainly, it’s because we know how great for all of college basketball it would be to have a perennial contender in New York City.

On Sunday the entire nation saw St. John’s and Madison Square Garden at its finest as the Red Storm clobbered Duke for a 93-78 victory. The building was rocking as Dwight Hardy led the way with 26 points, and Justin Brownlee put together a monster performance of 20 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists.

The dominant St. John’s performance started right from the opening tip, and by halftime it led 46-25, leaving the Blue Devils in total shock. Although Nolan Smith went for 32 points, there were few bright spots for Duke, which started the game 1-for-21 beyond the arc.

It was just a day for the Johnnies, and for Steve Lavin, it was another huge step towards making the program relevant again.

From The New York Daily News:

This also marked the first signature win for first-year coach Steve Lavin, who with 12 minutes left and his team up by 21 greeted the Johnnies during a timeout at midcourt with arms waving to exhort the cheering crowd.

“You get caught up in the moment of the game,” Lavin said. “(I) wanted St. John’s fans to come to the party (and) support the players on the court. We’ve had this arduous stretch of games . . . and lost five of six. It was just wanting to jumper-cable the crowd and bring energy to our players.”

The win against Duke completes an eight game stretch for St. John’s against ranked opponents. The Red Storm went 3-5 over that period, and while they sit at just 12-8 overall and 4-5 in the conference, they have set themselves up to hit the easier portion of their schedule with a few quality wins under their belt and a lot of momentum.